Gwenn, your plants look healthy enough. At the height that they are now, it is important that you put them in a location where they can get some wind blowing against them. This can be done either by natural wind, or by a fan. The flicking back and forth strengthens the tree's stem and branches and is required to establish quality trees. Trees grown indoors that never receive resistance to wind grow tall, weak, spindly, and most will require a stick to help support the trunk. - Millet
Thanks for the tip, Millet. What do you think about the pots, do they look too small to you? And about heat, how can i bring some bottom heat?
To answer you question qwenn, i currently only have a buddha's hand citron, but have worked with some very large mature plants at Rideau hall.
OK. By the way what do you think about the pots, what size do you recomand? Millet told me a (5 5 15) (6 6 16)... were good, and i looked for some but i didn't find any in stores in here, everything i found are regular size (6 6 6)... kind, nothing with deep part. Have an idea?
For pots i just use standard clay bell pots and I keep all the citrus pretty root bound I find that you will get more flowers and fruit that way. Also, I pinch off all the flowers to let my plants grow bigger, then once they are at a good size i allow them to flower and produce fruit. Also a good spring pruning should be in order to allow the desiredshape of the plant and allow more light into the center, like you would do an apple tre outside, and thats how i carefor my citrus.
I would never let a citrus or any other long term woody plant remain in a small container and encourage the tree to become root bound. Root systems that are root bound are in a very unhealthy condition. Roots that are root bound do not put on new growth of fine root hairs, and it is the root hairs that supply the tree with the energy. Also the two MOST IMPORTANT items in the growth medium are water, and aeration. Root bound containers greatly limit both. Citrus trees bloom in response to stress. Usually the stress is the cool fall and winter temperatures (<68F). It is unwise to stress the tree by forcing the root system to become crammed tightly in a small container. Gwenn, if you cannot find a deep container, then purchase a container that is 2 - 3 inches wider than the container that the trees are currently in. Also try hard to find a container that is at least 2 inches deeper.- Millet
I let all of my plants, including my woody flowering plants and fruiting plants stay rootbound for a very long time. Then I either will bump them up to a pot 2" larger or cut half of their roots away and place them back in the same pot. I have never lost a plant due to this and this method is practiced everywhere i have worked and when I was learing horticulture in school. I found that placeing them in too large of pots causes them to be slow growing and put up weak growth, but thats just my method. If you would like to see pictures of my plants i can email them or post them.
Thanks for the advise, i'm changing the pots this week-end. I have an other question, i bought a citrus twoo weeks ago, i forgot the name but the fruit are little orange very sour. I put some picture below. Some fruits, the little ones are falling for a past couple days, i don't know why and i don't know what to do. Is it normal? There's still some on it, especially the bigger but if there's something to do i'd rather do it early. The plant was in a small plastic container(6*6*6) so i upgrade the size. I give the plant some light, some water but not too much, and i have fertilizer (20 20 20) but i don't know if i'm suppose to give it some. What i want right now is not the plant to grow but the fruits to keep growing and be mature. Can anybody help me? Thanks in advance. Gwenn.
beautiful trees. the fruit will mature, and the plant will continue to grow, its just going to be at a MUCH slower rate being they are young trees its best not to fertilize after transplanting for a bit, it'll stress the plant out. 20-20-20 fertilizer is NOT the kind you should be using. You want to find one as close to the ratio of 5-1-3 with micros. More than likly you will also need to add in some epsom salts as well to get the magnesium in. I cant wait till my 3 new trees get its fruit to that size. I just bought 2 meyers, 1 bears lime and a oroblanco. all but the oro are in fruiting, flowering stage. All my other trees are putting out new growth right now. Must be keeping yhte room the right temp!
Your citrus tree looks like a Calamondin. Calamondin trees are originally native to China. The tree also looks very healthy. I would not worry about some of the fruit falling from the tree, unless it become excessive. It is normal for a citrus tree to shed the majority of the fruitlets that originally set. If all the fruit that originally set on a citrus tree remained, the tree would collapse under it own weight. - Millet
Hi, I discover today that one of my plant (i think it's the lime tree, only three monts old) is full of mites, or something like that. The bugs are on the soil and probably in, what should i do? My plants are all indoor so i don't know how the bugs got there, but there's a lot of them. Gwenn
Is there any way to help the trunk of trees going bigger, because my plants have nice big leaves but the trunk is really small. And how about a tree with fruits. Is there any chance to make the trunk bigger too because the fruit are heavy and i think the tunk has problems to handle it. Thanks in advance.
I believe you really do not mean "bigger" what you mean is "stronger." If your tree's trunk presently cannot support the tree, and if you must use a stake to support the trunk so that it does not bend down, it is to late to fix the problem. Nature's way of providing a strong straight trunk is with wind. The flicking of the trunk back and forth develops the sturdiness. When a tree is started from seed, the tree should be placed outside when the seedling is about two inches tall, and no later. If you live in an area where the weather will not permit setting the tree outside, than the tree should be placed in front of a fan. The wind will build a strong sturdy trunk. - Millet
Thanks for the answer! I have another problem, Some of the leaves of my trees start to be brown on the extremity, do you know why? And on my main tree the one with fruits, the leaves are all dry with some cut on it, i wonder if a bug do that or if it's somenthing else? I give my plant a 30 10 10 fertilizer, should i add somethind else (epsom salt, nutriments...?), is that why my plants are not doing well? I start do really worry about it. Can you guys help me? Thanks in advance.
